Continuing odds and ends on B&W...
One problem I had in setting up my darkroom again is that most of my things
are in my Dad's darkroom in Michigan. Well, I priced timers and prit'ner
choked up a hairball. Forget that, I'll use my stinkin stopwatch first. I
came up with a solution that actually has proven to be (for me) far
superior to most any timer I've ever used.
What did I do?
I took my little pocket recorder (sorry, it's a radio shack, not an
Olympus), and recorded the following while reading my stopwatch (in
daylight): "3, 2, 1, Start, 1, 2, 3,... 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 1 minute,
1:05, 1:10,... 2:00, 2:15, 2:30, 2:45, 3:00,... 5:00."
I just rewind it and hit play. Turn the enlarger on, (or dunk the print in
the developer) when you hear "Start" and shut off our transfer to the next
chemical at the appropriate time. With this method, you don't have to keep
time yourself, nor do you have to watch a timer. Cool, eh? Rewind time
from five minutes is about 20 seconds.
My recorder cost me $19.95 USD almost ten years ago, been dunked accidently
in Lake Michigan twice, the Atlantic Ocean once and tumbled down a thirty
meter cliff besides other random abuses. It works very well and runs
forever on a pair of AA batteries. Shoot, I still use the origional
micro-cassettes. I think there is an OM-1 inside. <g>
Oh, make sure you record-protect the cassette afterwards. In the dark,
it's too easy to hit the record button instead of the play button.
Ken (going crazy listening to my own voice) Norton
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